A trade exemption doesn't seem to signal that. That would signal that they are going to hijack an overpaid star from a floundering franchise and hope that he can gel with all the spare parts that BC is accumulating, maybe BC should go on A&E's hoarders.

I'm starting to like the trade exemption more and more. The West is going to be full retard next year. Name three teams that you can guarantee will miss the playoffs, you can't. More than a couple teams are going to be eating pavement and looking to shed salary. Could Nash make the raps pretenders in the East?

Portland could hit the cellar and potentially be shopping Roy...

A trade exception could mean anything. They could hold onto it until the next draft and take on a player to get a draft pick, as Oklahoma and a couple of other teams did. They could use it to help a team dump salary in exchange for a draft pick or young player. They could simply want the trade exception because they didn't want salary back and wanted the draft pick(s), and have no intention of using it.

As for Portland shopping Roy, I don't think they would be that stupid, but if Portland doesn't do well this year, they might very well be ready to deal.

4 Team deal in the works?

I'm listening to the fan 590 and E Smith is talking to Micheal Wallace of the Miami Herald and has reported that there is an apparent 4 team deal in the works with the Raptors getting a mix of young players and draft picks. It's good to hear that there is still a chance of something going down that will end up with the Raptors getting some assets.

Yea that is true, but BC is stuck in the old hand style of being a general manager. I fully expect him to try and rebound Bosh's departure with a big name.

I'm also of the opinion that it is better for the young guys to get playoff experience and dabble in mediocrity rather than build a culture of losing and possibly get trapped in a perennially lottery bound 30 year rebuild like the Clippers.

I wasn't of this opinion when the raps were trying to make the playoffs this past season, but the East is wide open this year and if they can add a point guard there is no stopping them from going deep into the first round.

You think its a coincidence that the best GM in the league, Sam Presti didn't go after any free agents and quietly resigned the soon to be best player in the game.
The only purpose of cap space should be to resign your own players and take on other teams bad contracts in return for picks and young talent. When Presti got Kurt Thomas and two numbers ones from Phoenix, it signaled to me the end of an era and the dawn of a new phase of basketball and any team that used it cap space to sign guys not named Wade or Bron are sadly still using the obsolete model.

I'm listening to the fan 590 and E Smith is talking to Micheal Wallace of the Miami Herald and has reported that there is an apparent 4 team deal in the works with the Raptors getting a mix of young players and draft picks. It's good to hear that there is still a chance of something going down that will end up with the Raptors getting some assets.

You better be telling the truth... or I will trade you for Beastor beasley

Positive sign for a S&T - Marc Stein just tweeted that Charlotte is "highly motivated" to get Beasley. One would think that if any coach could get him to get serious it would be Larry Brown. Though I guess he never responded to Pat Riley's old-school approach.

I wasn't of this opinion when the raps were trying to make the playoffs this past season, but the East is wide open this year and if they can add a point guard there is no stopping them from going deep into the first round.

Yea that is true, but BC is stuck in the old hand style of being a general manager. I fully expect him to try and rebound Bosh's departure with a big name.

I'm also of the opinion that it is better for the young guys to get playoff experience and dabble in mediocrity rather than build a culture of losing and possibly get trapped in a perennially lottery bound 30 year rebuild like the Clippers.

I wasn't of this opinion when the raps were trying to make the playoffs this past season, but the East is wide open this year and if they can add a point guard there is no stopping them from going deep into the first round.

You think its a coincidence that the best GM in the league, Sam Presti didn't go after any free agents and quietly resigned the soon to be best player in the game.
The only purpose of cap space should be to resign your own players and take on other teams bad contracts in return for picks and young talent. When Presti got Kurt Thomas and two numbers ones from Phoenix, it signaled to me the end of an era and the dawn of a new phase of basketball and any team that used it cap space to sign guys not named Wade or Bron are sadly still using the obsolete model.

If Colangelo ends up getting a big name player with a big salary with the exception, I'll be extremely disappointed. I understand not wanting to have a losing culture, but the problem the Raptors have is they have so good young talent, but no great young talent. They need to get a high lottery pick next year and a shot at a potential top 10 player if they want to be anything but a mediocre team for the long term.

Mediocrity is far, far worse than a season or two in the lottery without the right players. I like the Raptors young guys, but they simply don't have the pieces to be anything but a mediocre team without a true elite talent.

The Clippers were a team mismanaged and they drafted badly, which is why they have been bad for so long. Same with Golden State or most teams that have been perennial lottery teams.

Either you have the confidence you're a good enough GM to be able to rebuild the right way and do it fairly quickly (2-3 years) or you simply don't have confidence in your abilities, and that's not a good sign.

And I like what Sam Presti has done in Oklahoma, and that is the model Colangelo should be using, but let's not canonize the guy just yet. So far, his team hasn't made it past the second round and if he hadn't lucked out and grabbed Durant, they wouldn't be anywhere close to where they are now. Let's see what Presti over the next 2 or 3 years. Right now, RC Buford has to be the guy with the best GM title.

Yeah. I agree with that sentiment (the Tim W sentiment). I would say we should look to the Indiana Pacers as the team we should avoid being. Never terrible, never great leaves them always in the middle of the draft. I will never, ever argue for tanking or losing to get a higher draft pick, but you also - if you want to develop your young talent - have to play your young talent and let them get you the best they can. If that means you end up as at the bottom, at least you're not there with a team of veterans. You pick yourself up, get better in the offseason, and hit her again.

You need to build your team that way, or build one you think can win a championship, if not now, then at some point. No sense in building a team that you know will never take you past the first or second round at best. Championship or nothing - now or in the future. That's the way all GM's and all players have to look at it.

And, most importantly, you have to believe the players you've assembled can take you there. Otherwise it's all just a waste of time.

Riley wasn't the coach. Being around Larry Brown day by day should be a positive thing for him.

I know Riley wasn't the coach, but he tried to "school" him frequently. (And someone like Pat Riley wouldn't like a bust at #2 on his resume ) I agree though that if anyone can bring out Beasley's potential it would be Larry Brown.

Haha...That was pretty funny. Expectations have fallen big time, I was hoping to see a playoff series win the year after we lost to the Nets and maybe a conference finals appearance a couple years after that. Instead we got crushed by Orlando and missed the playoffs twice. Talk about bursting a bubble.